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Packers' Hawk Surprised at Fall of Clarett
By CHRIS JENKINS
AP Sports
GREEN BAY, Wis. (Aug. 10) - A.J. Hawk and Maurice Clarett were two freshmen brimming with talent when they arrived at Ohio State in 2002. A few months later, they were national champions.
Today, Hawk is on his way to becoming the next big star for the Green Bay Packers .
Clarett is in jail.
After hearing reports of a police chase, loaded guns and pepper spray, Hawk can only shake his head at the way a former teammate squandered his talent.
After watching Clarett dominate college football for the Buckeyes , could Hawk ever have imagined that things would turn out like this?
"No," Hawk said. "Anyone that had been there his freshman year in that stadium, I mean, he was everything. To everybody. From game one. People chanted his name the whole time, and he had a great year."
Clarett was the toast of college football after scoring a touchdown in the second overtime of the Fiesta Bowl against Miami to clinch the 2002 national championship for Ohio State.
Since then, his life has become a mess.
"He was a great running back - great vision, size, speed, everything," Hawk said. "It's unfortunate when something like that happens to someone, that many instances that he had off the field that caused all these problems for him."
Clarett was arrested early Wednesday morning after police tried to pull him over for driving erratically.
Police say they eventually stopped Clarett's SUV by spiking his tires, then tried to subdue him with a stun gun - but it didn't work because he was wearing a bulletproof vest, so they used pepper spray. He allegedly had four loaded guns in the SUV.
Clarett was charged with carrying a concealed weapon on Thursday, and bond was set at $5 million.
It was the latest in a series of off-the-field issues for the former star.
Clarett was suspended for the 2003 season after being charged with falsifying a police report. He left Ohio State, then sued unsuccessfully to become eligible for 2004 NFL draft.
The Denver Broncos drafted him in the third round in 2005, then cut him during the preseason.
Earlier this year, Clarett was charged with robbery and carrying a concealed weapon after police said he flashed a gun and robbed two people of a cell phone behind a Columbus lounge on New Year's morning.
"It's tough seeing that because it seems like something that keeps repeating," Hawk said. "It's not like it's gotten better."
Hawk said he didn't know Clarett particularly well off the field, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
"He got along with the guys and was a good teammate at the time," said Hawk, who hasn't spoken to Clarett in several years.
Hawk wonders if Clarett was getting bad advice.
"I feel bad for him. I think a lot of people do," Hawk said. "You've got to surround yourself with decent people, and I think in his case maybe he didn't do that, or took some bad advice or whatever. I don't know. Things aren't going right. Maybe this will be a wakeup call."
Packers defensive lineman Kenny Peterson was a senior at Ohio State when Clarett was a freshman, and hopes to get a chance to speak to his former teammate.
You know what? It's easy to love somebody when everything's going good. When it's sunny days, winning. It's easy to love somebody then," Peterson said. "But when they need the most love is when they're down and out. Everyone's trying to shun him now. If I had direct contact with him, I would. He needs somebody to help him. Obviously, there's more than a little bit going on, more than we know."
Peterson said from an outsider's perspective, it appears that Clarett is on a downward spiral that he can't control.
"More people need to reach out and find out what's going on," Peterson said. "Don't give up on him. We need to get to the source of why he's acting like this, what's going on in his heart and his head. If you look at it as an outsider, yeah, you think, 'This dude has just lost it. He's gone crazy.' I wish I could talk to Maurice. I wish."
Man, talk about 2 guys whose lives have taken different paths. Hawk is right about Clarett on 2 counts. he could have been one of the greats, and he's probably gotten some bad advice as a youngster. Hopefully someone can get through to Clarett, or he'll end up in the headlines, in a bad way.
By CHRIS JENKINS
AP Sports
GREEN BAY, Wis. (Aug. 10) - A.J. Hawk and Maurice Clarett were two freshmen brimming with talent when they arrived at Ohio State in 2002. A few months later, they were national champions.
Today, Hawk is on his way to becoming the next big star for the Green Bay Packers .
Clarett is in jail.
After hearing reports of a police chase, loaded guns and pepper spray, Hawk can only shake his head at the way a former teammate squandered his talent.
After watching Clarett dominate college football for the Buckeyes , could Hawk ever have imagined that things would turn out like this?
"No," Hawk said. "Anyone that had been there his freshman year in that stadium, I mean, he was everything. To everybody. From game one. People chanted his name the whole time, and he had a great year."
Clarett was the toast of college football after scoring a touchdown in the second overtime of the Fiesta Bowl against Miami to clinch the 2002 national championship for Ohio State.
Since then, his life has become a mess.
"He was a great running back - great vision, size, speed, everything," Hawk said. "It's unfortunate when something like that happens to someone, that many instances that he had off the field that caused all these problems for him."
Clarett was arrested early Wednesday morning after police tried to pull him over for driving erratically.
Police say they eventually stopped Clarett's SUV by spiking his tires, then tried to subdue him with a stun gun - but it didn't work because he was wearing a bulletproof vest, so they used pepper spray. He allegedly had four loaded guns in the SUV.
Clarett was charged with carrying a concealed weapon on Thursday, and bond was set at $5 million.
It was the latest in a series of off-the-field issues for the former star.
Clarett was suspended for the 2003 season after being charged with falsifying a police report. He left Ohio State, then sued unsuccessfully to become eligible for 2004 NFL draft.
The Denver Broncos drafted him in the third round in 2005, then cut him during the preseason.
Earlier this year, Clarett was charged with robbery and carrying a concealed weapon after police said he flashed a gun and robbed two people of a cell phone behind a Columbus lounge on New Year's morning.
"It's tough seeing that because it seems like something that keeps repeating," Hawk said. "It's not like it's gotten better."
Hawk said he didn't know Clarett particularly well off the field, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
"He got along with the guys and was a good teammate at the time," said Hawk, who hasn't spoken to Clarett in several years.
Hawk wonders if Clarett was getting bad advice.
"I feel bad for him. I think a lot of people do," Hawk said. "You've got to surround yourself with decent people, and I think in his case maybe he didn't do that, or took some bad advice or whatever. I don't know. Things aren't going right. Maybe this will be a wakeup call."
Packers defensive lineman Kenny Peterson was a senior at Ohio State when Clarett was a freshman, and hopes to get a chance to speak to his former teammate.
You know what? It's easy to love somebody when everything's going good. When it's sunny days, winning. It's easy to love somebody then," Peterson said. "But when they need the most love is when they're down and out. Everyone's trying to shun him now. If I had direct contact with him, I would. He needs somebody to help him. Obviously, there's more than a little bit going on, more than we know."
Peterson said from an outsider's perspective, it appears that Clarett is on a downward spiral that he can't control.
"More people need to reach out and find out what's going on," Peterson said. "Don't give up on him. We need to get to the source of why he's acting like this, what's going on in his heart and his head. If you look at it as an outsider, yeah, you think, 'This dude has just lost it. He's gone crazy.' I wish I could talk to Maurice. I wish."
Man, talk about 2 guys whose lives have taken different paths. Hawk is right about Clarett on 2 counts. he could have been one of the greats, and he's probably gotten some bad advice as a youngster. Hopefully someone can get through to Clarett, or he'll end up in the headlines, in a bad way.
Wow!
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